To Corinth

by Steve Ray on November 5, 2010

Everyone kept saying, “Let me pinch myself; I am really here?” Praying Mass where St. Paul did 2,000 ago? Seeing the shops where Corinthians bought meat sacrificed to idols and the Temple of Apollo where they worshiped the pagan gods that were really demons?

We had an outdoor Mass near the Bema where Paul was dragged for questioning because he opposed these idols and spoke the truth of one God and his Son Jesus Christ. It is always amazing being in Corinth, standing on the Lecheon Road, and looking up at the massive pillars of the ancient temples.

But my favorite is down below near the old theater, in an area with no path and where tourists never go. They don’t know it is there. But it is my favorite thing in Corinth. There is a stone in the ground which is part of the road to the theater. One the stone is deeply engraved the name ERASTUS who was a city official and the sign says so.

In Romans 16:23, written from Corinth, Paul says, “Erastus the city treasurer greets you.” How cool is that?

Anyway, we had a great day and ended up in Patras where St. Andrew was crucified on the X shaped cross and where the Battle of Lepanto was fough in 1571 pushing the Muslims back out of Europe. If they had not done this we would all be speaking Arabic today!